USERMERL%SFU@PUCC.PRINCETON.EDU (Dorothy Miyake) (05/15/91)
HI. I hope someone out there can help me or at least voice an opinion on this! I wish to classify the normal bacteria in the gut of salmon. The bacteria tend to grow around 10 - 20 degrees celcius. I have considered using an automated system (namely API 20E) to partially classify the flora, BUT am faced with the following problems: 1) This system only deals with gram negatives doesn't it? Is there a database of numbers for species NOT in the API book? 2) The system is standardized for incubation at 37 degrees celcius. Do you think that incubating at a lower temperature would change the results? Do you have any opinion on how long to incubate? 3) It seems to me that the organisms I am most likely to encounter are not even listed in the API book, and I am worried about obtaining false i.d.'s. I am beginning to think that my only choice is to obtain standard cultures of the organisms I am most likely to encounter and to use the results of these (perhaps using numerical taxonomy) to classify my unknowns. Any opinions? Thank you in advance, Dorothy Miyake bitnet: usermerl@cc.sfu.ca Dept. Biological Sciences Simon Fraser University Burnaby, B.C., Canada tel: (604)-291-3504